This invention relates to a device for retrieving stamped-out material from beneath the lower die, of a pair, in a situation where the stamped material has passed through the die. The material passing through the die, depending on the nature of the operation, can be either scrap or the desired product.
In various industries similar problems arise, each requiring different solutions. For example Mueller, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,420,567 describes a device for loading and unloading a bakery oven, and Vadas in U.S. Pat No. 3,760,665 describes machinery for peeling and halving pre-cored pineapples.
Turning now to metal handling procedures, Jarman in U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,498, describes a device for retrieving material falling from a metal shearing operation. The device discriminates between product and scrap; a gravity conveyor is used to transfer product into a stacker, which stacks the sheared material into orderly stacks which can be readily moved away from the shears.
Various proposals have also been made in the past to provide devices which retrieve shaped metal products from between a pair of cooperating dies in a die press. Thus O'Leary, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,377,262 describes a work-removing tray for a blanking press. In this press, the shaped product is retained on the upper die by an electromagnet, as the dies are separated. The same press movement causes a tray to be inserted below the upper die; shutting off the magnet deposits the shaped blank into the tray. Further movement of the upper die both reactivates the electromagnet and causes the tray to be retrieved from between the dies.
In a similar way Wallis, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,148,571 describes an adjustable slide for retrieving shaped blanks from between a pair of dies. The slide is actuated by a rack and pinion mechanism driven by the moving die. The slide moves a tray into place below the upper die to receive the shaped blank, and retracts the tray with the blank as the dies begin to close. The shaped blank is removed from the tray for further processing. As described by Wallis this is a complex device, requiring two lost motion arrangements and specially cut gears to ensure that tray movement is coordinated with the position of the press dies, one of which provides the moving power for the slide.
Notwithstanding these more or less complex devices, there is still a need for a simple press slide, which can be adjusted to accept a range of piece sizes, which can readily be attached to a die press, and which will retrieve material stamped out through at least one aperture in the lower one of a pair of cooperating press dies. In some cases the material exiting the die aperture will be scrap, for example round discs punched out in making a perforated strip, whilst in others it will be product, for example round blanks punched out of a length of metal strip. For each case the requirement is the same: the punched out pieces must be removed from below the lower die. This invention seeks to provide such a die press slide, especially for use in a press set up to accept several different die sets using conventional T-slot die parallels to mount the dies. This slide will replace both the vibratory or belt conveyors occasionally used, and the manual use of a push rod by the press operator.